Chicago's Top Cop Calls Gun Laws "Government Sponsored Racism"

The right-wing and gun advocates are up in arms over the statement made by Chicago’s new police chief that gun laws in America are “government sponsored racism.”

Garry McCarthy, who was brought in by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, said at a Black church in a violent neighborhood in the South Side of Chicago that slavery, Jim Crow, and a lot of factors are the reason for the gun violence around the country in Black neighborhoods.

“So here’s what I want to tell you. See, let’s see if we can make a connection here. Slavery. Segregation. Black codes. Jim Crow. What did they all have in common? Anybody getting’ scared? Government sponsored racism. I told you I wasn’t afraid [of race]. I told you I wasn’t afraid.”Now I want you to connect one more dot on that chain of the African American history in this country, and tell me if I’m crazy: Federal gun laws that facilitate the flow of illegal firearms into our urban centers across this country, that are killing our black and brown children.”

The surprising comments by McCarthy brought a house of criticism from the right.

“After several minutes of gratuitous self-promotion, McCarthy launched into a racially charged tirade in which he accused the NRA and law-abiding gun owners of participating in a government-sponsored program to kill black people,” Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, wrote on the group’s website.